Strand treatment



July 7, 1970 R. K. STANLEY STRAND TREATMENT Filed Nov. 6, 1967 /M/W ROBERT K. STANLEY No r Ms@ United States Patent Office 3,518,733 STRAND TREATMENT Robert K. Stanley, Media, Pa., assignor to Tcchuiservice Corporation, Kennett Square, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Nov. 6, 1967, Ser. No. 680,851 Int. Cl. D02g 1/00 U.S. Cl. 281.2 10 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to treatment of a bulked or crimped textile strand by means of cocurrent iiow of gaseous fluid therealong in a post-treating Zone. A flexible conduit is provided to conduct the strand from a bulking or crimping zone to a winding location while maintaining constant length of the strand path through the posttreating zone in which the strand is surrounded by the cocurrent gas flow.

Various methods of imparting a desirably irregular conliguration to otherwise smooth rectilinear textile strands are termed bulking or crimping and may be accomplished by means of intermeshing gears, a stuffing chamber, jet, or twist-untwist (or falsetwist) means through which the strand passes or an abrupt edge over which it passes, or by other means for applying differential stress to a strand so as to alter its conguration. It is also conventional for the strand to be heated or cooled (or both in succession) subsequently for the purpose of stabilizing the bulky or crimped conliguration, after which the resulting strand usually is wound onto a package or is forwarded by winding to a further treating or fabrication location. However, uncontrolled variation in such post-treatment tends to produce undesired irregularities in the product.

A primary object of the present invention is production of bulked crimped textile strands having greater bulk uniformity and crimp stability.

Another object is provision of improved control of post-treatment during which bulked or crimped textile strands are heated or cooled (or both).

A further object is provision of novel means for accomplishing the foregoing objects.

Other objects of this invention, together with means and methods for attaining the various objects, 4will be apparent from the following description and the accom1 panying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a largely schematic, partly plan representation of apparatus for practicing the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation, partly in section, of apparatus components of the preceding view, taken at Il -II thereon;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of an initial portion of a previously illustrated apparatus component, taken at III-III on FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of a terminal portion of the apparatus component of FIG. 3 together with associated apparatus, taken at IV-IV on FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is a similar view of an optional intermediate portion of the apparatus component of FIGS. 3 and 4.

In general, the objects of this invention are accomplished, in treatment of textile strands to impart a bulked or crimped configuration thereto, by forwarding a strand, having taken on such configuration, along a treating path of constant length and variable orientation through a post-treating zone and surrounding the strand passing along that path through that zone with gaseous fluid moving cocurrently. The invention provides apparatus for, and methods of, passing a textile strand successively 3,518,733 Patented July 7, 1970 through a crimping zone and a post-treating zone of given length, crimping the strand in the crimping zone, and conducting the strand away from the crimping zone and through the post-treating Zone in a surrounding cocurrent flow of gaseous fluid.

FIG. l shows schematically successive drawing, bulking or crimping, post-treating, and winding stages of strand treatment according to the present invention. Strand 10 passes through three-high stack of rolls 11, 12, 13 at the entrance to the drawing zone, then about first set of godets 15, 16 and second set of godets 17, 18, between which it is drawn to increased length and correspondingly attenuated. The drawn strand passes then through the nip of pair of feed rolls 21, 22 and is forced thereby into stuffing chamber 25 in which it accumulates temporarily in crimped form as it is forced against the strand accumulation already present. Crimped strand is withdrawn from the accumulation thereof in the stuffing chamber by pair of rolls 27, 28 at the exit end of the chamber and is forwarded thereby into entrance end 29a of flexible conduit 29, made of rubber or other elastomer or of polypropylene or other flexible polymeric material. The conduit loops around and terminates in juxtaposition to one of two Winding positions A and B. Exit end or terminus 29C of the conduit is supported in carriage 31, which is slidable `back and forth, as indicated by a double-ended arrow, on track 32 (shown more clearly in FIG. 2) from indicated lirst position A to alternative second position B. The winding positions are shown as comprising grooved self-traversing drive rolls 41a, 41h; intermediate rolls 42a, 421); and windup packages 43a, 43b, respectively. Means for severing the strand to permit transfer thereof from winding at one position to winding at the other position, as when a wound package becomes full, may be entirely conventional and do not constitute a part of the present 1r1Vent1on.

FIG. 2 shows carriage 31 and track 32 in front elevation and on an enlarged scale as compared with the previous view, which showed them in plan. Indicated principally in broken lines are pairs of ball detents 33a and 33h, respectively, partially protruding from the track and effective to retain the carriage at its respective rest positions. Part of FIG. 4 shows the carriage and track sectioned at the location of one of ball detents 33a, indicating one of the hollows in the underside of the carriage to receive such ball detent.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show in longitudinal section respective initial or entrance end 29a and terminal or exit end 29C portions of flexible conduit 29, broken away to indicate indefinite length. From these views it is apparent that the conduit is triple-walled, thereby providing an annular jacket around the inner tubular passage through which strand 10 passes. The packet communicates with the interior near the entrance in a plurality of apertures, and with the exterior near the exit through fluid supply tube 30, which is also preferably flexible. As indicated by the arrows, gaseous fluid enters the jacket from. the supply tube and passes toward the entrance end, where it leaves the jacket and enters the interior passage through the indicated apertures, and then flows cocurrently with, along, and around strand l0 until the strand exits from the conduit into the vicinity of one of the winding positions. Bleed hole 40 in the bottom of the conduit permits escape of any condensed moisture from the jacket.

FIG. 5 shows optional intermediate conduit portion 29b that may be present between initial and terminal portions 29a and 29'c thereof, as may be desired when those portions are not joined directly to one another without such an intermediate portion. The intermediate portion of the conduit is similarly constructed and resembles the initial and terminal portions joined in the opposite order, having internal stop 41 dividing the jacket into anterior and posterior portions 29b and 29b" corresponding, respectively, in structure to terminal and initial portions 29C and 29a. Fluid supply tube 30 joins the anterior jacket portion just as tube 30 does terminal conduit portion 29C, and the posterior portion is furnished with apertures for providing communication `between the jacket and the inner passage as in initial conduit portion 29a. The effect of this intermediate portion when inserted between portions 29a and 29C is to provide duplicate sections of conduit, permitting greater control of temperature of the fluid and thereby of the strand. Of course, maintenance of the ternperature throughout each section is facilitated by the countercurrent fiow (with respect to direction of strand passage) of fluid through the jacket out of contact with the strand itself.

The anterior section of the conduit, or the entire conduit Where only a single section is used (as formed by initial and terminal portions 29a and 29C joined together), is preferably supplied with hot fluid but may be supplied with cool fluid. When a posterior section with jacket separation from the anterior section is used, it may be supplied with a fluid at like temperature or at lower temperature. It is preferably in one embodiment of this invention to supply hot liuid to the anterior section and cool fiuid to the posterior portion.

The flow of gaseous fluid helps to support and convey the strand through the conduit and cushions it against contact with the outer wall of the conduit, thereby precluding crimp removal by forwarding tension, which may be maintained quite low accordingly. When heated to a temperature at which the strand composition softens, the fluid assists in the accommodation of the strand to its new, crimped configuration, in a kind of annealing or stressrelieving action. When at a temperature below that at which the strand composition softens, the fluid fixes the crimped configuration by reducing its tendency to flow and thereby freezing residual strains in place. Best results usually attend the use of such hot fluid followed by use of such cool fluid, resulting bulk or crimp stability being a principal criterion.

It will be apparent that two or more intermediate conduit portions may be employed end-to-end to increase the number of separately jacketed sections of conduit, if desired. Repeated alternate heating and cooling of the strand may be accomplished thereby, or the temperature change from hot to cooling of the strand may be accomplished thereby, or the temperature change from hot to cool may be made more gradual by injection of fluid at successively lower temperatures in successive conduit sections. Other modifications may be made, as by adding, combining, or subdividing parts or steps, while maintaining significant advantages or benefits of this invention, which is defined in the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In treatment of textile strands to impart a bulked or crimped configuration thereto, the improvement comprising forwarding a strand, having taken on such configuration, at a given rate of travel along a treating path of constant length and variable orientation through a post-treating zone and surrounding the strand passing along that path through that zone with gaseous fluid moving cocurrently independently of the rate of forwarding of the strand.

2. Strand treatment according to claim 1, wherein the gaseous fluid moves cocurrently at a rate exceeding the rate of travel of the strand.

3. Strand treatment according to claim 1, wherein the gaseous fluid is supplied to an initial portion of the treating path at a temperature at which the strand composition softens.

4. Strand treatment according to claim 3, wherein additional gaseous fluid is supplied to a subsequent portion of the treating path at a temperature below that at which the strand composition softens.

5. In strand-treating apparatus, jacketed conduit means for conducting a textile strand, exterior means for injecting gaseous fluid thereinto for flow cocurrently with the strand, the jacket of the conduit communicating with the exterior means for supplying gaseous fluid thereto and communicating also with the conduit interior through which the strand passes.

6. Strand-treating apparatus according to claim 5 including stand-crimping means and strand-winding means, wherein the locus of communication of the jacket with the interior of the conduit is nearer to the crimping means than to the winding means, and the locus of communication of the jacket with the exterior is nearer to the Winding means than to the crimping means.

7. Strand-treating apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the jacket is subdivided into a plurality of annular portions arranged end to end, each of which cornmunicates with both the conduit interior and the exterior but not with one another.

8. Strand-treating apparatus according to claim 7, including means for supplying an initial portion of the jacket with hot gaseous fluid and means for supplying a terminal portion of the jacket with relatively cool gaseous fluid.

9. Strand-treating apparatus comprising means for crimping a textile strand, multi-position means for winding up the crimped strand, having a plurality of windup positions located side by side, and intermediate conduit means of essentially constant length and variable configuration for conducting the crimped strand from the crimping means to the windup means, and laterally shiftable means for juxtaposing the terminal portion of the conduit means to any of the windup positions in turn.

10. Strand-treating apparatus according to claim 9, wherein there are two windup positions and the laterally shiftable means includes means for supporting the terminal portion of the conduit means and for shifting it back and forth between two rest positions each of which is in juxtaposition to one of the respective windup positions.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,300,791 11/1942 Lodge 19-66 2,983,026 5/1961 Skalko 19--66 XR 3,166,820 l/l965 Taul et al. 28-1 3,292,231 12/1966 Epstein 28-1 3,370,325 2/1968 Wellman 19-66 3,334,980 8/1967 Smith 242-18 XR 3,345,003 10/ 1967 Mattingly et-al. 242-18 DORSEY NEWTON, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

